Ransomware – Cryptoware

Ransomware – Cryptoware

There have been a lot of computers that have come in lately that have been infected with Ransomware. These type of infections encrypt your data (Document, pictures, etc.) with a strong encryption and then demand that you pay them a large amount of money to give you the decryption key to unlock your files. Most security experts are recommending that you don’t pay the ransom since this could open you up to other problems. Because of these types of Ransomware infections, it is always a good idea to have one, if not two backups of your important files (external hard drive and a cloud based backup). There are also a few ways to prevent these infections. Don’t open emails that you don’t who they are from and if you do know who they are, still be careful of attachments. Malwarebytes.org has a beta program that they say will prevent these infections. The website www.foolishit.com has a program called cryptoprevent that should protect you as well. Always make sure you do your Windows updates and have a good antivirus that is activated and up to date.